HIS ROYAL Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister's Office, officially launched DataStream Technology's (DST) new 3.5G broadband service here yesterday.

"The DST GO! Broadband service ... is a very significant initiative by DST Group in providing the latest mobile technology to its subscribers," Dr Hj Mohd Amin Liew Abdullah, Chairman and CEO of DST Group, said before the audience in a packed Indera Kayangan Ballroom at The Empire Hotel and Country Club.

DST's new 3G network, which began installation work in November last year, is based on the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access High Speed Downlink Packet Access (WCDMA HSDPA) technology supplied by leading Swedish telecommunications supplier Ericsson.

The new network will allow download speed of up to 7.2 megabytes per second and users will have access to a bigger range of media-rich broadband services such as video telephony, music and video entertainment, mobile TV streaming via their mobile devices as well as mobile broadband Internet access using modems.

Dr Hj Mohd Amin said the project will be an ongoing expansion plan on DST's 3.5G infrastructure.

"The 3G Network that we are building now will be continuously improved in terms of coverage and upgrading in terms of services and Insya Allah more services will be launched in the near future," said the CEO.

During the launch, the DST Group donated $40,000 to the Pengiran Muda Mahkota Al-Muhtadee Billah Fund.

GO! Broadband is offered in two package plans: the GO! Basic plan at $38 per month or a contract-based plan with GO! Unlimited of $78 monthly. Customers can choose either a modem or a combination of a laptop and a modem (valid for data service) with both plans.

DST has partnered with Acer, Dell, Apple and Microsoft to provide the laptops bundled with the broadband package.

For Easi surfers, a Prepaid GO! Broadband Starter Pack Plan is available preloaded with $10 worth of data access. Credit from an Easi account can be transferred to a Prepaid GO! Broadband account.

To top up or transfer credit, users can send a message saying *105*(Mobile no.)*000#send from the Easi account to the Prepaid GO! Broadband account. To validate the credit transfer for voice calls, video calls, SMS and MMS, users are to type *107*(GO! Broadband no.)*(12 digit pin no.)#send. Data charges will be $0.05/Mb.

SIM card upgrades for current Prima and Easi subscribers will also be free-of-charge until May 30, and are available at DST Group counter outlets nationwide. Customers wishing to upgrade their SIM cards after May 30 will be charged $10. (HHM1)